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Indirect fire is useful, so I don't want to ban it. It just requires coordination. I won't screw anyone over, but their teammates might. So what I want from the firer is the name of the spotter they're relying on and then I'll make things happen.
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Dec 30, 2015 16:47
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Affi posted:House rule that the penalty for the spotter is less and add maybe a piloting roll for not falling on your rear end when not paying attention? Hell no, don't make indirect actually good. PoptartsNinja posted:Indirect fire is useful, so I don't want to ban it. This is probably the best way to deal with indirect firing since it shows the players are coordinating. Having indirect fire first probably also helps.
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Dec 30, 2015 18:03
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So, I'm thinking about peeling back the veil a little bit when I do the 3035 update. Who wants to see Exodus Road?
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Dec 31, 2015 03:05
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Aff.  Alternately, what's comlang for 'Ooo, I do, I do!'?
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Dec 31, 2015 03:09
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Sounds like good "state of the sphere" post for the new year, however long it takes to get there.
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Dec 31, 2015 03:22
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See the Exodus Road as in a counterstrike to the Clan homeworlds? Because the road itself doesn't seem like it'd be that interesting. A bunch of craphole worlds used as rural gas stations. We'll pick up some SQUAWK jerky and some truck nuts for our Atlases along the way. That said, I'm down for whatever. I'm confident the writing will make it interesting wherever we go.
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Dec 31, 2015 03:33
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Zaodai posted:See the Exodus Road as in a counterstrike to the Clan homeworlds? Because the road itself doesn't seem like it'd be that interesting. Well, it's also a "see what things look like in the periphery" sort of thing.
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Dec 31, 2015 03:49
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If you think about it, the Clans are a collection of the most successful deep periphery states.
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Dec 31, 2015 03:51
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Speaking of "where are they now?", what ever happened to the pirate contest?
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Dec 31, 2015 14:39
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dis astranagant posted:Speaking of "where are they now?", what ever happened to the pirate contest? I totally forgot all about that. We never did find out who won that contest.
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Dec 31, 2015 15:26
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I lost all my notes on that one. Everyone wins! I know this is a cop-out, but the prize was some spritework and most people made their own PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Dec 31, 2015 |
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Dec 31, 2015 17:44
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Submitting my orders now. Moving to 1315 and unloading on the white Shadowhawk. Contingencies to shoot drat near everything at the Pillager if it jumps next to me or attempts to DFA me.
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Jan 1, 2016 02:45
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PoptartsNinja posted:I lost all my notes on that one. Everyone wins! Clearly, you just need to hold a second contest instead! The last one was pirate themed, so clearly round 2 should be robbers AND cop mechs
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Jan 1, 2016 06:13
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I don't have any good prizes left to offer, and if I can't offer a half-decent fun thing it makes the contest hard to run.
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Jan 1, 2016 06:32
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What are your non-good prizes?
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Jan 1, 2016 06:42
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TheParadigm posted:What are your non-good prizes? Honor and Glory? Edit: I thought as much. 
PoptartsNinja fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Jan 1, 2016 |
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Jan 1, 2016 07:00
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PoptartsNinja posted:I don't have any good prizes left to offer, and if I can't offer a half-decent fun thing it makes the contest hard to run. Winner gets to pick the next Let's Read book?
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Jan 1, 2016 17:35
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PhotoKirk posted:Winner gets to pick the next Let's Read book? I'd have to finish the two I'm currently doing. Although my copy of Ghost War has inexplicably vanished. It was on my computer desk and now it isn't, leading me to wonder if I ever really found my copy or if I was just imagining the whole thing.
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Jan 1, 2016 19:47
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You'd THINK the editor wouldn't let that stuff through but...
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Jan 1, 2016 19:52
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Winner gets to choose a MechWarrior who appeared in a previous scenario to appear in a "Where Are They Now?" segment. If that MechWarrior was thought to have been killed it is revealed that they survived.
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Jan 1, 2016 21:30
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The winner gets to pilot an Urbanmech in the next scenario, even if it makes no sense for one to be there.
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Jan 1, 2016 21:48
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Scintilla posted:The winner gets to pilot an Urbanmech in the next scenario, even if it makes no sense for one to be there. Yes, but with what gun? AC/10? AC/20? UAC/20? HVAC/10? HAG/40?
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Jan 1, 2016 21:58
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All of the above. Standard heatsink layout though, so it'll be one alpha strike away from blowing up a city block.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:01
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berryjon posted:Yes, but with what gun? AC/10? AC/20? UAC/20? HVAC/10? HAG/40? It'll be the one that mounts MRMs for maximum sadness. [EDIT] If one of those doesn't exist, it should. I might be misremembering there being a canon MRM Urbie, though.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:02
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Zaodai posted:It'll be the one that mounts MRMs for maximum sadness. UM-68, comes with a MRM-30 and 2t of ammo. Developed by the Draconic Combine, it first saw combat in the Combine-Ghost Bear War of 3062.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:06
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berryjon posted:UM-68, comes with a MRM-30 and 2t of ammo. Developed by the Draconic Combine, it first saw combat in the Combine-Ghost Bear War of 3062. It would be the Combine that used them. MRM-30 Urbies are the IEDs of their day. Fancy Clan omnis stroll by, everything explodes, and there's one on every street.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:15
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:Winner gets to choose a MechWarrior who appeared in a previous scenario to appear in a "Where Are They Now?" segment. If that MechWarrior was thought to have been killed it is revealed that they survived. That's actually a really cool idea!
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Jan 1, 2016 22:20
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Personally, I'm not big on giving someone the power to retcon deaths (beyond PTN himself, obviously). The whole "where are they now?" idea could be neat for living characters, though. Though it would be hilarious if the death retcons were all Monkey's Paw style wishes. Oh yeah, one of the dead Caballeros is totally alive when we thought he was dead! ... but he's actually an evil zombie cyborg working for the Cappellans now. 
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Jan 1, 2016 22:24
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Zaodai posted:Personally, I'm not big on giving someone the power to retcon deaths (beyond PTN himself, obviously). The whole "where are they now?" idea could be neat for living characters, though. That's actually what I was hoping happened to Paul Masters, to be honest. Well, maybe not cyborg zombie, but at least some Manchurian Candidate thing.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:27
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Zaodai posted:It would be the Combine that used them. MRM-30 Urbies are the IEDs of their day. Fancy Clan omnis stroll by, everything explodes, and there's one on every street. I wouldn't call them THAT cheap.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:30
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berryjon posted:Yes, but with what gun? AC/10? AC/20? UAC/20? HVAC/10? HAG/40? A full set of RISC equipment.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:36
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Winner getting to pick a character for a "where are they now" segment is awesome WITHOUT RETCON! if you pick Hastur maybe PTN just briefly mentions his ashes drifting in the atmosphere.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:40
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Lair Seidman: he was not sanguine, and despite medical intervention and multiple transfusions, died.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:59
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Let’s Read Mechwarrior Dark Age A Brand New Era, A Brand New Saga! GHOST WAR a BattleTech novel NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR MICHAEL A. STACKPOLE Part 5 Chapter 10 When I last updated this, our “hero” Sam had just been captured by the Republic’s Space Police. So of course the best way to start Chapter 10 is learning that everyone’s favorite sociopath is wearing a clown costume. quote:Consider it: white, puffy, big cuffs, lots of big, bright polka dots. You can see why I didn’t want to mention it, but since it was the object of much mirth among my captors, omitting it would leave much unexplained. Ok. Clothing is important. Clothing can help set the scene. But the odds of Sam’s clothing being in any way relevant to this chapter is pretty much nil. The other members of his ecoterrorist group are also wearing clown costumes but the whole thing is a set-up so Stackpole can mock the local Space Police Captain (Reis, if you recall, or ‘a guy Sam hates for doing his job’ if you don’t) saying his medals and the like are more clownish than a literal clown suit. The Knight of the Sphere is here too so of course Sam immediately sexualizes her. This will make more sense in a bit, but as I noted before Stackpole has a habit of describing all of his female characters in incredibly sexually-charged terms. We’ve already met this one and he still takes the time to call her literally jackbooted Space Nazi uniform sexy. No, sorry, ‘stunning.’ The word he used was ‘stunning.’ Also ‘skintight.’ And ‘bare midriff.’ Oh, and we learn that Sam’s been beaten up, which you’d think would be more relevant given that this is a first person narrative, but I guess having an eye swelling shut isn’t in any way painful. Bad Space Cop immediately begins mocking “Our Hero” for his failure, Sam smartasses at him and gets slapped in the head. I’m not supposed to be rooting for Reis here, but I am. He’s just a Space Cop trying to do his Space Job and Sam the Space rear end in a top hat is making that very hard. The Knight then reveals she’ll be taking Sam off to Space Gitmo. Sam immediately pleads with Reis to remain in custody with the local authorities but Reis smugs it up and lets the Knight take Sam. Which is pretty much exactly what Sam wants. So, it turns out all of Sam’s terrorist contacts are dead or captured, the other ‘planned attacks’ never happened, and Sam’s boss “Mr. Handy” has been murdering everyone Sam met and has used the raid on the armory to clean house and go into deep hiding. Anyway, Sam gets taken off for ‘extradition,’ and once he’s onboard the Knights of the Sphere dropship Lady Knight Lakewood begins making out with him. Chapter 11 So, we learn that Sam Donnely’s real name is Mason. Mason Dunne. He’s a Knight of the Sphere (sort of) and he’s been out of contact for four months. Of course the Republic hasn’t been getting his Space E-Mails with the HPGs not working so none of them have gotten Mason’s reports. Being a Stackpole quote:She knelt before me and released my feet, then placed her hands on my knees and stood. “We have a lot of work to do.” I know it’s not intentional, but still. C’mon.  So yeah, the reason why Mason has been describing Janella in highly sexualized terms is because they are, in fact, lovers and not because he’s a creepy rear end in a top hat (wait, no, he’s still a creepy rear end in a top hat). Mason then takes the time to explain in even more detail how the Knights of the Sphere work (poorly). Janella is a Knight Errant which means she quote:Lady Janella Lakewood is a Knight of the Republic and serves as a Knight-Errant—traveling to worlds, unraveling problems, acting somewhere between a diplomat and a tactical reaction force. She’s also a Space Lawyer, which I happen to think is the much more interesting job description. It’s a pity this book wasn’t Mason wanks on and on about the Knights of the Inner Sphere, and then finally reveals that he is a Ghost Knight. The Ghost Knights exist entirely off the books. Officially Mason is a “forestry researcher” just scientifically important enough that nobody would bat an eyelid at a consultation. In theory. So we then learn that the loving coffee shop Mason bought his space coffee from a few chapters back is actually a ~*~Super-Secret Republic of the Sphere Contact Point~*~ which ID’d him by voice and made sure to slip a tracking bug into his order because he’d requested it. So yeah. Starbucks works for Devlin Stone. They then leave the planet because, y’know. Stopping terrorists isn’t that important.  We then learn that the collapse of the HPG grid was a systematic series of attacks that overwhelmed the local security of every HPG in the Inner Sphere simultaneously while also leaving no clue as to how it happened or who the attackers were. So obviously it was the last gasp of the Word of Blake. By which I mean it’s utter bullshit. So yeah, the HPG grid can be repaired, but the parts are in short supply and it will take a long time to make more. They do mention that 80% of the Alpha Circuit is down, but don’t mention any of the more rural circuits so presumably they could just take the secondary, less important HPGs offline and ship the parts to get the important communication lines up and working again but  Janella then drops the bombshell that the Republic may have collapsed by the time she and Mason get back to Terra. Because sure it will. Chapter 12 Summarizing the first six or so pages of this chapter:  Mason and Janella arrive on Terra. Janella gets lead off, Mason gets brought to his room, and finds Victor Steiner-Davion (totally not a Word of Blake operative) waiting for him and if you thought the wankery was bad before, you haven’t seen anything yet. quote:Victor Steiner-Davion wasn’t a big man—in fact, he was quite small, but the force of his personality filled the room. When my gaze met his steady gray eyes I could see life burning fiercely in them. His white hair and beard were trimmed and the hand holding the glass was rock steady. He looked much as I remembered him—as I had always seen him. Well, I guess it’s a good thing he’s dying then because at least it means he won’t live to see the Federated Suns run by a literal madman and his  Victor immediately gives Mason poo poo for making his report (read: the first 11 chapters of this novel) read like the first 11 chapters of this novel instead of reading like an actual report. Say what you will, but I still can’t bring myself to hate Victor. Anyway, Victor isn’t sure about the Word of Blake theory for the HPG disruption, since the few WoB communities still around in the Free Worlds League have voluntarily reduced themselves to stone-age technology “in the hopes of discovering a new form of technology that will be liberating and uplifting.” What. Anyway, Mason questions whether it’s Daoshen Liao, and Victor muses that Sun Tzu’s son is “smarter than his father” and “tainted by his aunt’s madness.” Also he’s an illusionist, and Space Wizards are bad news. But Victor also doesn’t think any of the successor states had the troops or knowledge necessary to disable the HPG network, and that the Clans were in no position to do the job. So who could it be?! 
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Jan 1, 2016 23:07
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Knowing nothing about the plot I'd guess it's the Knights of the Inner Sphere secretly trying to take over the galaxy, and they took down the HPGs. Because a knightly order completely unaccountable and unelected running around a galaxy with approval but not oversight of the current government is a recipe for "they'll try and take over". And drat Space JAG would be incredible. I hope someone actually makes that. Sci-fi series are hot right now so it might happen.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:15
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DatonKallandor posted:Knights of the Inner Sphere Different group.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:31
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I've been saying that the sourcebooks are bad at painting Victor as a great strategist and capable leader when we see that he's neither of these, but the way Stackpole describes him is possibly even more jarring. We're supposed to think he's a super compelling dude but guess what? There's still Stackpole dialogue coming out of his mouth. Talk about your space jags.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:32
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They're going to develop psychic powers instead of technology?
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Jan 1, 2016 23:32
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Scintilla posted:A full set of RISC equipment. I don't know what that is.
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Jan 1, 2016 23:50
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Defiance Industries posted:Talk about your space jags. He's a young, by-the-books human straight out of the academy. She's a jaded Alien fed up with anthropocentric bureaucracy. Together they try to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the spacing of Lt. Sonderquist was no accident.
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Jan 2, 2016 00:01
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